Microsoft in fact has already tried to buy Nintendo, and they got a no as a response, so no, even with all their money, they can't buy Nintendo.

A sale is an agreement of both parts, if you are not willing to sell then there is no sale to me made.

The only dev Sony ever bought that was not closely related to them is Bungie, every other one is a dev that has in the past been in very close contact with Sony.

Sony already own's 14% of From Software shares, the very soulslike genre people are afraid of Sony owning only even exist because of Demon's Souls, a Sony IP.

I think the biggest concern is related to Kadokawa's anime and manga content, as Sony will be in control of far too much anime distribution. But even there I've read that would be far from the case inside Japan, as there are at least another 3 big publishers there, some like Sueisha being bigger than Kadokawa. But Sony has global ambitions and can still be concerning.

Apparently all of Kadokawa is around 1/20 of the value of Activision Blizzard too.

I'm against that, regardless, big companies becoming even bigger by buying other big companies is always bad in the end.

I see no end to this, and if it eventually reaches companies like Square Enix, Sega, Capcom or Bandai Namco that will be really, really sad.

I was and still am against major acquisitions of any kind (control and wasted resources are nearly as bad as artificial exclusivity), but I made peace with them knowing that things can get a lot worse and knowing there isn't much I can do about it anyway. Don't expect me to be enraged for a lifetime over an entertainment issue!

Inevitable reactions aren't as bad as the actions that instigated them, and context shouldn't be ignored. If you're against monopoly, then you wouldn't be so mad at Sony's acquisitions because the alternative obviously threatens Playstation's existence. Both Nintendo and current Microsoft are virtually unharmed by Sony's meager acquisitions. Sony with FromSoftware added to their lineup, would remain the weakest of the three by a good margin (without factoring in whatever MS is acquiring next). So what monopoly are you speaking of? Microsoft decided to expand like a maniac and Sony was inevitably going to react because they aren't suicidal. I'm sorry but this doesn't appall me!

Microsoft will be able to do whatever they want with CoD past the 10 year contract. "10 years" (was initially 3 years but their hand was forced) is practically nothing. Why do you think Sony panicked?

As I implied in a previous post, imo Sony "should" stop making big acquisitions after FromSoftware, because I think what they will then have is enough to keep them strong in the business no matter how aggressive Microsoft realistically gets. They will have finally achieved "self-sufficiency". Sony never had intentions to match Microsoft's acquisitions and crazy aspirations, but they are aware that what they have isn't exactly enough to ensure a strong Playstation/gaming future.

Actually no they can't. Also, they already tried. They got laughed out of the room by the people MS would need to woo over to even attempt a hostile takeover.

Nintendo doesn't own Grezzo.

If Microsoft offered $300bil, you think Nintendo's gonna turn that down? What about $400bil? Again, if Microsoft really wanted to is the key detail here. (and yes, ik Microsoft got laughed out of the room when offering to purchase Nintendo back twenty-something years ago. I am a Nintendo fan, you think I wouldn't know this? Lol. My assumption is Microsoft didn't offer hundreds of billions back then. At most, $10bil...which yeah, you're gonna get laughed out of the room with an offer like that. The fact Microsoft was even able to make their offer indicates Nintendo was in fact open to hearing them out, suggesting that a certain price tag would be enough.)

And yes, I know Nintendo doesn't own Grezzo. (I am a Nintendo fan...again. I can literally list out all the games they have developed under partnership with Nintendo. Better watch yourself thinking I don't know everything abt Nintendo!) I mentioned them as an example of a hypothetical acquisition that would be good. Nintendo's only acquisitions over the past >20y are Retro Studios (early 2000s), Next Level Games (back in 2019(?)), and Shiver Entertainment (May/June 2024).

took down my og post btw, y'all. I'm working on not exploding in these forums wnvr I get a little bit annoyed Lol. My bad!

Kadokawa's financials

If the picture doesn't work here, it's just from the document.

On the left, you can see Kadokawa's gaming share is well behind their publication and anime sectors. 

Not even MS has 400 billion to just throw out there and they'd never do that. Not even a Saudi prince has that much gall.  That's so cartoonishly hyperbolic rest of the post is not even worth reading.

@Bolded - not true technically, mergers and buy outs have always been a thing.

In regards to the rivalry between MS and Sony...Kadokawa Corporation's buyout isnt likely because of the gaming side of things.

MS bought Zenimax (Bethesda) in 2020 and Activision Blizzard in 2022.

Sony's counter to the gaming side of things was with Bungie in 2022.

Sony's plans for Kadokawa stems from their plan to dominate the Anime industry - remember its SPE (Sony Pictures Entertainment) and not SIE (Sony Interactive Entertainment) that is after all these acquisitions.

SPE bought Funimation back in 2017.

SPE bought Crunchyroll back in 2021.

And now Kadokawa in 2024.

FromSoftware and Spike Chunsoft are just collateral in comparison.

Either ways, changes will be made with how the games will be released - same with MS's Activision Blizzard and Bethesda.

I'm assuming a arms war/race type of situation will happen or both Sony and MS will continue distributing purchased IPs as multiplatform as there's more money in doing something like that than making something exclusive.

Microsoft already saw that and Sony has started following that slowly. Nintendo teased interest in doing such - with them releasing a emulator and some games on a Mobile PC in China and eventually caved to expanding their IPs to Mobile devices.

Its just Capitalism, no point in stressing over something us common folk cant control.

@Underline/Italic - not gonna happen, it would be a disaster if they do that. MS wont lose out money on potential customers and they would lose a ton of money if they do that.

Platform holders shouldn't gain control over massive 3rd party assets no matter the promises or expectations. From a consumer perspective, it's at best a waste of resources.

In the console/PC space, multi-billion dollar acquisitions were initiated by Microsoft with Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014 (which ironically proved very cheap and arguably their best get). They then got Bethesda ($7.5b) and ABK ($68b). Sony (gaming) never made acquisitions of this scale until 2022 with Bungie ($3b "overvalued"). Before that, their biggest was Insomniac at $230 million.

I very much doubt FromSoftware and Elden Ring aren't a large part of the appeal. 2 years ago, Sony bought 14% of FromSoftware specifically, months after the release of Elden Ring. Both needs aligned and they're trying to get Kadokawa for gaming AND anime/manga.

I don't necessarily think Microsoft will take CoD off Playstation, but how do you reckon Sony would respond to a bluff from Microsoft? The motherfuckers at Sony worship CoD. Also, timed-exclusivity is a reasonably high probability that would barely hurt software totals at the benefit of increased Xbox subscriptions, software and hardware sales, and brand power.  MS can explore temporarily skipping Playstation and see how the market react (but then, Sony will threaten to remove Elden Ring lol).

Microsoft spent $69bil for Activision, and is worth $3.09tril. They can afford it if they really wanted it. They literally can. Yes, we’re talking in hyperbole, but the point is that they literally could afford it w/out seeing much/any change in business success. Whether they have the “gall” do to it…i mean, they obviously don’t. BUT if they did have the “gall” one day, then Nintendo is theirs.🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️